I see a lot of people worried about a possible delay, casting issues, or these other, more speculative things like the studio not liking the script, demanding changes, demanding 3D, or other out-there possibilities with no basis whatsoever, but it's all just baseless speculation. Movies have their timetables changed all the time during this stage of pre-production. The dates given for the potential start of filming were nothing more than projections or speculations. Nothing was ever set in stone, and as such, there are always different issues that can crop up along the way to change the scheduling of a film.

The most frustrating aspect of all this is that nobody involved in the Hobbit project will give a simple straight answer as to what exactly is going on. All we have are occasional quips through the media from PJ and sometimes Guillermo to the media or on here. WB won't say what's going on, and they're the ones with the ability to confirm or deny the status best. If we just had a straightforward "here's the status" from someone - be it Guillermo, PJ, or the studio - this wouldn't be such a big deal, but all we've gotten are vague statements and ambiguous reports.

Bottom line is that, sure, people have a right to worry, but what really bothers me personally is that none of the people controlling the fate of this film will step up and say anything to the fan community. Guillermo is only in a position to say so much - it's not really up to him when production begins or what resources will be at his disposal. But the fans are the ones that will be lining the sh...ire out of the producers' and studio's pockets, so I think it's fair that they at least give us a status update, even if that status update says "we're still in the process of sorting out budgets and therefore project is still up in the air."

Things sounded imminent at one time, and we've spent the past several months hearing the exact same "news" being repeated - that casting announcements are around the bend, that the script is finished or almost finished, that the ball is in the studio's court, that a greenlight is on its way, etc. I'm not mad at anyone involved in the project, but I'm a bit peeved at the situation in general. If I had the money, I'd overfund this project right now, give PJ whatever he wants, and watch the dollars come in like mad. The sooner you pump in the money, the sooner you get it back - and then some. This project is a huge cash cow... between the films themselves both domestically and overseas, and with the eventual DVD, Blu-Ray, and inevitible extended edition releases, the Hobbit franchise will be overflowing with money. So whoever or whatever is holding up production - unless it's for reasons of creative integrity - isn't playing it smart right now.